Invisible
by Vanne-the-bookworm
Summary: Annabeth goes to high school. She's broken. She pushed everybody away. One day, a new kid shows up. His name? Percy Jackson. Watch as Percy try to know Annabeth. Will he break through her barriers?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

Prologue:

Annabeth's POV

 _'Mom? Mom!' I stood still as I watched my mother fall to ground, a knife stuck in her stomach. Her glassy eyes look over. She opens her mouth to say : 'Annabeth dear, I love you. Live for me. Please.' With that one last word, she exhales and she went still. 'Mom! Please! Oh, don't die on me. ' I yelled. I walked over, and took her hand. I felt her wrist. There was no pulse._

 _I laid next to her, just wanting to die. Maybe I would be reunited with her. She was my last family. Will anyone ever love me again? What were her last words? 'Live for me.' I took a deep breathe and slowly, with my trembling hands, closed her eyelids. I put my still trembling hand over my heart and looked at her, saying : 'Vade in pace. Go in peace. May the Gods be with you.'_

Beep beep!

I woke up and curled up in a ball, head between my knees, sobbing. It was just a dream, I told myself.

But no, it was real. It was a memory. I dug my fingers into my hand so hard I drew blood. _'Live for me'_ my mom had said. I will mom, but only for you. I tried to stop my tears flowing. But I couldn't control it. I could not control myself. I beg myself to stop, but it seemed as if my body has another mind of its own. Come on, Annabeth. It's time for school. You are stronger than this remember. One day, you'll be reunited with mom. Remember, you promised. I slowly talked myself out of it.

I got up, went to the bathroom and wiped the tears off my face. _I promise._


	2. Broken

Annabeth's POV

In the bathroom, I wash my face, trying to wash my tears away. I was like a robot, doing what I normally did, yet still in shock. I signed, thinking: the day hasn't even started yet and I already feel broken. I washed my hands, put a bandage on and changed into my favourite casual wear: a simple grey T-shirt and grey trousers. Almost subtly, a weight settled on my shoulders. My shoulders suddenly felt heavier and my mind…weak. Shattered. Broken. I suddenly felt tired, as in I haven't had any alone time in a week.

Before I could continue drowning in my self-pity, someone knocked on my door. 'Annabeth, there's 20 minutes till school!' Helen snapped. I took a deep breath, put on my guarded mask and walked out of the bathroom.

A word about Helen. Helen's my step-mother. After mom died, dad merely only grieved for about a month before dating Helen. She was wild and a flirt, the complete opposite of my mother. She would never have approved. When I cornered dad to ask him about it, he claimed that it wasn't seriously and that mom would have wanted him to move on. I immediately defended mom, saying that she may have wanted him to move on and perhaps, find somebody new, but she wouldn't have wanted him to forget her. Beside, it was only a month after her death. I scowled. Dad had then shouted at me and confessed that he didn't love me. After realising what he had said, he tried to apologize but it was too late. Tears streamed down my face and I slammed the door in his face, which I never did. Dad had tried to make it up to me, but I could never forgive him.

I ran down the stairs, treading lightly. I sat on the small table in the corner, where I clearly belonged, isolated and alone. I got a box of cornflakes and ate it slowly, collecting my thoughts and strengthening my weak mental barriers, not allowing a single emotion to show on my face. I finished breakfast and packed my bag and ran out to catch the school bus.


	3. Percy Jackson

Annabeth's POV

Half an hour later, I had arrived at school. It was known as Athena. Funny, Athena was my mother's name. I do not know whether to think this as a blessing or a curse. A blessing because it was named after the Greek goddess Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, my mother and I had always valued wisdom. A curse because it reminded me of her. Mom was named Athena because she reminded my grandmother of the Greek goddess. She was (I quote) 'The wisest person I have ever met and an expert on battle and its strategies.' She also somehow, in a strange way, inherited the goddess' looks. She had blond hair and grey eyes, which in turn, had passed down to me.

I had just walked past the school garden minding my own business before stepping into the school hallway when the intercom blazed to life. ' _Annabeth Chase, please come to the office'_ , it said. I froze, while every head in the corridor turn to stare at me. Their stares seem to say, _well come on, what are you waiting for!_ I quickly ran towards the vague direction of the office.

As I ran, I ran through the list of what I had lately done. I've been getting As the whole term. I haven't started any fights or participated in any pranks. I've been excelling in PE. Was I even in trouble?

I finally reached the office, not even out of breath despite the fact that the school is pretty big. As I came to a stop, I observed the room. Nothing seemed out of order. The security was sitting behind her desk and the bookshelf was still standing in the left corner of the 'waiting room', along with the three blue chairs sitting next to the bookshelf. I let my eyes wander before focusing on the two people standing in the middle of the room. One was the headmaster looking at me disapprovingly and the other was a boy I had never seen before. I stood still, taking in his appearance. The mysterious boy had sea green eyes and raven black hair. He had a rather athletic and lean body, suggesting that he liked swimming. He also had tan skin. I observed the way his eyes never seemed to focus on one particular thing. Maybe he was ADHD or just nervous? I'm guessing both. His eyes seem to move too much for simply being nervous. Also, he was playing with his fingers. That's a bonus. His sea green eyes suddenly met mine and also as if he could sense that I was reading him, looked away as if it was too much for him to handle.

I looked back at the headmaster. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. 'Annabeth, this is Perseu – ' he was cut off by Perseu-something when he spoke, rather loudly: 'Its Percy.' The headmaster continued as if he had never interrupted 's Jackson. You are going to tour him around.' I opened my mouth and asked him if he could find someone who would do as a better tour guide to which he responded with 'Perseus also has ADHD and Dyslexia like you do, which is why I assigned him to you.' I had suspected the ADHD, but not the dyslexia. 'Alright' I said. After all, there was no arguing with the headmaster. 'You better get started then.' The headmaster said, whirling on his right foot and heading off into the office.


	4. First Class

Annabeth's POV

Perseus said: 'Hi I'm Percy' holding out his hand, expecting me to shake it. I introduced myself: 'Annabeth Chase', nodding curtly at him. He awkwardly dropped his hand and attempted to make conversation. 'So, um…aren't you suppose to show me around the school.' I signed. 'Alright, what's your first lesson?' He held up his timetable and squirted at it, attempting to read it. 'I don't know, I can't read it' he said while gesturing helplessly. I snatched it out of his hands and attempted to read it as well. After a good 10 seconds, I was finally able to make out the words on the first line. 'It says…Math. In room 503' I said frowning at the thing, disappointed that I couldn't read it sooner. Percy groaned and said: 'I hate maths. Maths is my mortal enemy!' he said, gesturing dramatically.

I finally cracked a small smile at seeing how stupid he was. 'Seaweed Brain.' I muttered. Percy's head snapped up. 'What did you call me?' He asked, curiosity in his voice. 'Seaweed Brain. Because your head's full of seaweed.' I cracked a smile while slowly, a look of realisation crossed his face. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. ADHD.' What was I thinking, talking to someone I just met? 'Are you calling me stupid?' he stated, ignoring my apology. 'Yes' I said. 'It's alright, you can call me that. I think I deserve it.' Percy started asking me some personal questions. 'So…where do you live? Who's your parents?' he asked, rubbing the neck of his neck. I narrowed my grey orbs at him, suspecting something was up, immediately putting on my guarded expression. 'I live around half an hour away, my dad's Frederick Chase and my mom is dead. She died a long time ago.' I said, watching him carefully, noting his body movements. He shifted nervously. When he finally met my eyes, I noticed that he pitied me. I don't want or need pity. 'I don't need pity.' I snapped, my eyes flashing dangerously. I noticed that he subtly backed away. 'Ok…I'm sorry.' He finally said, eyes casted down. I signed 'Its ok, you didn't know. And…I should be the one apologising.' It took me a great effort to say that, because I was a very prideful person. However, I also believed in honesty. I averted my eyes. When I mustered enough courage to look up again, I note that Percy was torn between wanting to comfort me and just standing back.

'We really should be getting to class.' I said breaking through the silence. I looked at my grey watch, just realising that there was 2 minutes till class and we had to get to the fifth floor. We would be late to Percy's class unless we…run. 'Can you run?' I suddenly asked. He nodded. 'Alright, we're going to be late unless we run so follow me.' With that, I took off running. Percy ran after me.

When we reached his classroom, Percy took a second to calm down. 'How *pant* are *pant* you not even out of breath?' He panted out. 'I do cross country.' He nodded as if that explained everything. 'I meet you after your class to show you around.' I turned around not even saying goodbye as he turned round to enter the classroom.


	5. Chapter 5

Percy's POV (didn't expect that did you)

Wow. That was the only thing I could think as I watched the blond beauty turn around and storm off to Gods knows where. She was beautiful. Both in and out. She tried to hide it, but I could see that she was hurt. Somewhat broken. And shattered. She masked her face carefully, but she just could not mask her eyes. Ever heard the saying: 'The eyes are the windows to the soul?' In her case, it was true. I could see every emotion she had displayed in her beautiful grey orbs, as stormy as storm clouds. I turned around, pushed open the glass door and entered the classroom.

The moment the door started to move, every students head snapped my way. I spotted the teacher standing right in front of me. I walked over to the teacher and introduced myself 'Hi my names Percy Jackson.' I rubbed my neck sheepishly as she looked over the register list and said: 'Perseus Jackson? I am Mrs. Whiteford.' The whole time I was standing there, the class was whispering. I caught a few lines.

"…God he's hot. I really should ask him out." Said a girl with a face caked with makeup.

"Yum. *giggles* " Said another girl.

I shuddered, eyes already moving around the room and feet shifting. Mrs. Whiteford was still speaking "…and you will sit next to Cathy. Cathy please raise your hand." (Sorry for any Cathys out there. It was a random name) Makeup face girl raised her hand, almost triumply, glaring at the other girls. I gulped, walked over to the empty desk on her right, sat down on the seat and dumping my bag on the floor, laying my head on the desk.

 _Thump!_ I lifted my head up, annoyed at the interruption. Makeup face girl had moved her desk almost right next to mine. 'Hello, I don't believe we've met my name's Cathy, what's yours hottie?" "She said all of that in a nasally voice, fluttering her eyelids. 'Do you have a eye seizure or something.' I blurted out. For a second, she almost looked embarrassed. Then she composed herself. 'No silly!" she said, slapping my arm playfully. "My name's Percy, now can you please leave me alone?!" I said, almost losing my patience. She thankfully looked taken aback, so I took the chance and fell asleep on the desk.

 _Ding-dong!_ I woke up with a start, swung my backpack on my back and walked out of the classroom, almost running into Annabeth. She looked angry. _She's so beautiful._ Where did that come from? ' You…sleep in class?' she asked almost hesitantly. There was no use lying; she had seen it all. 'Yes.' I said, heaving a sign. For a second, a look of anger crossed her face, before she grabbed my arm (which I almost didn't notice because I was trying to ignore the electricity coursing through me) and dragged me to a nearby secluded room and locked the door. She faced me and I tried not to think of the fact that we were the only two people in the room. Her stormy grey eyes stared into my sea green ones before heaving a sign. 'What. Is. Wrong. With. You. You come here to learn, not to slack off and sleep in classrooms!' she scolded me, emphasising each word and somehow making each word drip with venom. I got the message: If you slack off again…" I gulped: 'Yes ma'am.' I said, trying to regain some dignity in front of the (very scary) blond beauty standing in front of me. She studied me again. I felt uncomfortable under her stare before she finally nodded. 'Come on, what's your next class?' she asked. I digged through my messy bag, finally seeing and handing her the timetable. She didn't comment on how messy it was, rather tried to read the second line. _She looks so cute when she does that._ When she finally did, she handed the timetable back to me and I stuffed my bag. She said: 'We have English together in room 304.' I tried not to let my heart race at the very fact that I would have a class with her. 'Come on lets go.' She unlocked the door and ran towards the stairs. _Seriously, what's up with this girl and running,_ I thought, exasperated before running after her.


	6. English

Annabeth POV

 _That stupid Seaweed Brain!_ I thought as I ran towards English. Why are you running, you may ask. That's because I love cross-country and to be honest, running everywhere is just so much faster. It also helps with ADHD. Sorry, getting off track! Now, where was I? Oh yes, _stupid Seaweed Brain for falling asleep in class! Everyone here came to school to learn, not to fall asleep!_ I thought, scolding the idiot in my head.

After running in what seems like forever, I had finally reached room 304, with a panting Percy behind me dripping with sweat, while I was barely even breathing.

At first, the guy seemed like a threat. He looked like the sort of person who would be popular the first chance he gets. Every single person I toured around always ended up being my enemy of some sort, whether it was trying to outsmart me in class to just plain bullying. But he just seemed…friendly. Nice. I just simply could not get my head around the fact that somebody would want to be friends with me. I didn't even understood why human beings like gossip or how could they/we accept love. Why on earth would anybody want to even care about me? I sit alone at school and at home. I have no friends, whether it was past or present. The last time I had a friend…that was before mom died. My best friend was my mother. She was the person who I could always look up to, always count on to listen to me whenever I was at my worst. Now she was gone. I signed, feeling tears about to fall. I hurriedly blinked them away.

'Are you ok?' Percy asked. I jumped. I almost forgot that he was here with me. _Stupid. Stupid Annabeth._ I scolded myself for letting myself show weakness. I looked up, giving him a small smile, saying: 'sorry, just…zoned out.' In the case he didn't understand, I continued, 'thinking.' He nodded. 'Come on, lets go.' With that, I pushed open the door.

Mr. Fleming had just stopped speaking when I pushed the door open. He scanned us, analysed us, before saying: 'Hello, you must be Perseus Jackson.' Percy flinched at the use of his name, before replying with: 'Please call me Percy.' He looked us over again, eyes coming to stop at my butt. Percy stepped in front of me protectively, while I glared at him. 'I don't need your help.' I muttered, before walking off to my seat as if nothing happened.

Mr Fleming said stiffly: 'Percy, please sit next to Annabeth please.' He nodded and I saw a quick look of gratitude directed at me. I was confused. _What was that for?_ He walked down the aisle and sat next to me. I shot him a look of confusion to which he replied with a wink.

'Class, please open your copy of _The Odyssey_ to page 59.' Mr Fleming said. Percy shot me a look which screamed _help me!_ I chuckled at his cluelessness and asked Mr Fleming for a copy of _The Odyssey_ before opening the book to page 59 and left it on the desk.

Not even five minutes into the lesson, I started to get impatient. Forcing myself to focus on the _very interesting_ lecture Mr. Fleming was giving us on _The Odyssey_ , I managed to copy around half a page of work before my eyes (against my orders) started to wander again. They decided to land on Percy, who was writing a note. I raised my eyebrow in confusion, before finally coming to an understanding when he passed the note to me. I opened it. After around 3 minutes of looking at Mr. Fleming and squirting at the note I finally made out the message: _The look of gratitude was to say: thank the gods that I'm sitting next to you, rather than somebody else._ _Hmm…he's smarter than he looks._ I thought and bit my lips at the same time, a habit I got from looking at my mom doing it so often. I wrote underneath it: _Pay attention,_ before handing it back to him. He pouted and I gave him a stern glare. He finally turned his attention back to the boring lecture Mr Fleming was giving, while I turned to my notes.

Around half an hour later, I turn around to check on Percy (make sure he's not sleeping) before finding him stare at me. I gave him a questioning look to which he replied with a blush. I signed again, and turned my attention to the whiteboard, the boring lecture and Mr Fleming.

Around fifteen minutes later, I could no longer concentrate on the boring lecture Mr Fleming was giving. _Honestly, couldn't his lectures be a little more interesting?!_ I signed and zoned out, taping my pen against my knee in an effort to calm my hyperactive self down. My eyes started to wander and they explored every inch of the classroom we were in, as I had done so many times before. I found myself analysing and thinking my fellow classmates (again). Candy, good at school, loves to read. Danny, a jock who prided himself on his non-existing football skills. _Seriously, I could do so much better than that! And I've never taken an interest in football._ Peter, a boy who I occasionally talked to, out of boredom. He was actually alright for a boy and prided himself on his knowledge on science…

It took forever for the bell to ring and I immediately jumped up, couldn't wait to escape the boredom on sitting still. I was hyped up, as if I had just eaten 5 packs of skittles and drank a mug of coffee. I almost rushed out of the classroom before remembering that there was Percy, who somehow managed to fall asleep during class again. I signed and walked over to wake him. I tried shaking his shoulder. All he did was mutter something about his mom and blur cookies. I felt a pang in my heart at the mention of mom before shaking it away and focusing on the task at hand. I leaned down and put my mouth next to his ear, as if I was about to whisper. I then screamed: 'PERSEUS JACKSON, WAKE UP!' That did it. Percy shot up with a jolt before remember where he was. I doubled over, laughing managed to stutter out: 'You…your…face' before double over, laughing again, this time holding my stomach. Percy at first looked confused before taking one look at my face and laughing along with me.

I finally calmed myself down and still smiling said: 'Come on, we have PE next. Get changed.' With that, I waved him over and rushed out of the classroom like there was no tomorrow. 

Please review me on your thoughts!


	7. Wise Girl

Annabeth's POV

When I finally arrived at the sports hall (the place we have PE), there was only two minutes till lessons. I turned to Percy, who was dripping with sweat, but thankfully not panting like a dog. 'Seriously, toughen up!' I said with a slight smile on my face, rolling my eyes before going back to business. 'Ok, the boy's changing room is over to your right. We have 2 minutes till lessons start. Hurry up and change.' Ignoring him, I spun around and walked into the girls changing room.

The girls changing room is a nightmare. There's makeup everywhere and girls screeching at each other every five seconds, along with clothes flying around. The lockers are a bright pink, to symbolise our gender I guess. Did I mention that I hate pink? It was my least favourite colour.

I signed and went over to a corner of the room before turning around and making sure that no one was looking, quickly changed. While I changed, a girl whom name was Amerty, looked in my direction and gasped and that lead to everyone else staring at my backside. Why? There was a collection of old scars and bruises just sitting there. When mom had just passed away (murdered), well…Helen hated the fact that my dad had a kid with another person. So, she tried to drive me away by bullying me, taking every chance she had to bad mouth me to my dad and when I tried to tell dad what really happened, he always sided with Helen. She also occasionally abused me when she was high with a glass beer bottle. She always somehow manage to forgot exactly what she had done to me the next morning but I would always remember. When she finally conceived my brothers Bobby and Matthew, she stopped, thinking that she didn't want her children to think that she was a bad role model, or worse, follow her in her steps. I guess her children were alright. We usually ignored each other when I didn't want to talk to them, but we always had a mutual respect towards each other, ever since I had decided to step up to the big sister role and took care of them, reading them story books and singing them lullabies.

I continued to ignore them, acting as if they didn't exist. I finally finished changing and turned around only to meet a bunch of questions. _How did you get them? Are you Ok?..._ Somehow, in the years that I was here, they had never noticed my scars till now. Amazing. I felt like a deer trapped in the headlight, a famous celebrity walking down the red carpet with news reporters on either side. I simply held my head high and walked out of the changing room with my bag on my back, ignoring all the questions.

I hate attention. I despite it. It was something I never wanted. While certain people would have loved the spotlight, I had always preferred the quiet. I always preferred to work backstage, the person who was working behind the scenes and making everything work, yet not taking credit. However, when it was a must, I would take up the role of leadership.

I walked to double doors that lead to the sports hall and walked in. No matter how many times I had seen the sports hall (a lot), it somehow always managed to take my breath away. This time was no exception. Percy had already arrived, already making friends. Right now, he was talking to a ginger (no offense to any gingers)whom I recognised. He was Brody, a member of the swimming team. I scrunched my eyebrows up in confusion. Why was he talking to him? He didn't talk much. Maybe Percy just had a naturally friendly atmosphere about him. That seemed like the guy.

I took a seat at the back of the stands, which was where I usually sat alone, deep in thought. I was jolted out of thinking when somebody sat next to me. I turned to glare at the person, before realising it was Percy. I signed saying: 'You know you really shouldn't sit with me, I'll just ruin your reputation.' _Sure, this guy may be nice and be the first to be willingly friendly towards me, but surely he must care about his reputation, right? I don't want to ruin that for him, especially on the first day of school._

So, it honestly surprised me when he said: 'I don't care about reputation. I care about making real friends. Starting with you.' He said, looking at me straight in the eye. I don't usually blush easily but the intensity in his stare made me. _Why me?_ 'Why me?' I asked, voicing my thoughts. Percy scrunched his face up in confusion. 'What do you mean _Why me?_ Why not? You're a nice person and the only person who is interesting to get to know.' He replied. I was taken aback. _Why would he care about me? I'm just a person. A useless person._ I just couldn't understand why on earth would anyone care about me, let alone a person I just met four hours ago. 'You know, I swear you're a wise girl when it comes to studies, but when people want to be friends you're hopeless. Wait…wise girl! That's it! Wise girl is now officially your new nickname.' He said smiling triumphantly. I was still too overwhelmed about the comment earlier rather than focusing about the new nickname. _How on earth did he figure that out so quickly? He met me four hours ago._ Noticing my quizzical look, he explained: 'Wise girl. It's your new nickname.' I shook my head. 'No I mean what you said before the nickname.' For a moment, he looked confused. Then his face lit up. 'It's your eyes, they give away every emotion you feel. I just read them.' He explained. I raised an eyebrow. 'You're smarter than you look, you know that right?' I said. Still that last comment troubled. He just…read me so easily. Before I could dwell on my troubled thought, I was snapped out of it when Coach Geo blew his whistle.


	8. PE

Annabeth's POV

Coach Geo snapped: 'Alright cupcakes, today, we're going to do dodgeball.' A cheer went up from the students, while I (along with Percy) remained passive. 'New kid and Danny, get up here!' Coach Geo yelled into his megaphone. Percy paled while Danny grinned, flexing his muscles for all the girls. Nearly all the girls swooned while I simply rolled my eyes. A few girls were also eyeing Percy like he was a piece of meat. Percy didn't notice and instead went up to Coach. He asked him for his name. 'My name's Percy sir.' Percy said. Coach Geo said: 'Alrighty Percy, you're going to be team captain along with Danny here, who's our football captain. Since you're new, you get the first pick.' Percy immediately scanned the crowd. 'Annabeth' He said meeting my eyes. I shrugged before going up to stand behind Percy. 'Who's good?' he whispered. I scanned the crowd and asked : 'Good offense or defense?' Percy narrowed his sea green orbs in thought before replying with defense. I scanned the crowd again. 'Daniel' I finally said. Daniel loved playing dodgeball and was best at defense. He always managed to catch the soft balls before they hit the ground.

Percy called out: 'Daniel!' and the said person walked over to join us. Danny wanted Jonny, one of his best friends on the football team.

'Candy' Percy said. I nodded in approval. Candy may be good at school work, but she was also very fast on her feet. Her aim was impressive and she had a strong arm, making her a vital asset, a good attacker. 'Adam' Danny said, who was another member of the football team. And so it went on, with us choosing a fair range of players and Danny choosing all his football buddies.

'Ok guys, come on, we can win this!' Percy said and gestured to the football players. 'They may have strength, but we have speed and strategy. Sometimes, even strength must bow down to wisdom.' I informed my teammates, scanning the opposition. Percy shot me a look of approval before I started telling the other my plan.

The plan was to have Percy and I in the front as distracters. We would dodge, but never even attempt to throw at the opposition. We were to make the opposition focus on us rather than our teammates. Then, Percy and I would slowly lead them over to the right side of the court, while our teammates picked off those caught off guard. They were only to throw the balls when we give them a signal, which was a sharp nod from Percy. The moment the other team realised what was going on, we would rotate, like a volleyball game. Brody and Candy would take our places as attackers, this time as attackers. They would dodge whenever a ball came flying in their direction and throw the ball they had on hand, while our other teammates tried to catch the balls without them hitting the ground. Only Percy and I would even attempt to run for the balls as to not raise suspicion and using the time it would take for the other team to run for the balls, get into position. I wanted to explain the backup plan, but there wasn't enough time. So, I simply said: 'Peter and Genna, take Percy and I's place if we get out. Robbie and Jason, you two are to replace Brody and Candy if they get out.' If it worked, we were sure to win.

No sooner than I had just finished explaining and teaching the team what to do, Coach blew the whistle. The game started.

Percy and I ran for the balls while the others scrambled into position. The defenders started collecting the balls thrown at them, making sure to not keep all the balls. Slowly, Percy and I drew the other team over to the right side of the court before giving them the signal.

BAM! Around half of Danny's buddies got out simply because they weren't aware of their surroundings. The other half suddenly turned around. I screamed: 'rotate!' That gave us the time to 'rotate'. Percy and I faded into the background as defenders, while Candy and Brody took the spotlight. They were demons. Candy never let the balls even touch her and when one flew towards her, she always caught it before it could hit the floor, making the person that threw the ball, out. Eventually, Danny was the only one left and just stood there when Candy threw a ball, clearly aimed at him. The ball met the target and we won the game.


	9. After PE

Annabeth's POV

'That was awesome!' Percy yelled and punched the air as we existed the hall. 'You did great. Honestly.' I said, smiling slightly. However, Percy didn't take the credit. 'You were the person who came up with the strategy. YOU did amazing.' He said, looking me straight in the eye. I raised an eyebrow before looking at him in confusion and puzzlement. _What had I ever done to deserve his congratulations?_ 'I don't deserve your congratulations.' I said, voicing my thoughts. 'All I did was come up with the strategy.' Still, a part of me was proud for coming up with it.

Percy stopped and turned around, confused. 'Do you honestly think you cannot even accept a single congrats?' He asked. 'Yes.' I replied. _I don't deserve it._ 'Why?' Percy asked, curious. The moment the word left his mouth, I closed up. I put my guarded mask on and tried to hide my emotions.

I never opened up all that much to other human beings anyways. I just usually opened up just enough for them to think ' _She's nice, but not really my type'_ and just enough for them to think that I'm not broken on the inside, making myself seem boring and uninteresting. In a way, I was. I didn't care about the things other girls usually did, like makeup, shopping, clothing and boyfriends. I've always prided my self on not being one of those shallow girls and being different. I hated the idea of popularity.

But somehow, this boy, whom I have only known in less than a day, manage to figure me out more than any other person could figure me out in three years. That honestly scared me. I couldn't hide from this boy. Maybe I could show him around for the entire week and then go on ignoring him for the rest of the year.

He also said that he wanted to be my friend. I could not let that happen. I don't deserve a friend or care or a family in any way or form…or…or. I signed, recognizing the fact that I just had a 'attack' , I like to call it. An attack is basically an attack of self pity and of depressing thoughts.

'Annabeth?' I turned to look at Percy. He had been reading my emotions all along. I turned away from him, and let myself panic. _I can't…_ I composing myself, turned around and replied with a 'I'm fine. Just…an ADHD attack. I just zoned out. Sorry.' _Buy it!_ I willed. I was a horrible liar. I could not lie. Percy narrowed his eyes in suspicion. _Please._ I begged in my head. Finally, he signed. 'Alright. I'll let it off.' I signed in relief, before paling again when he said: 'for now.'

-Line-Breaker-

A/N:

Guys, please review and PM me on your thoughts and suggestions. Sorry but this chapter's kind of short. I'll try make the next one longer.


	10. Lunch

Annabeth's POV

 _Crap!_ That was my only thought when he said: 'for now.' _He can't know, Annabeth. I'll just end up hurting him and…I might end up losing the only person willing to be my friend, a selfish part of me thought._ Despite the fact that I didn't want him to be my friend because I'll clearly do not deserve a friend, I secretly really longed for one. I've always dreamed of having a family, not bonded by blood, but by friendship and kindness. I've always wanted a person whom I could call brother or sister and someone who could listen to me without interrupting. That was…is my biggest dream. _I wish somebody would understand me._

'Annabeth, you did it again.' Percy said, sighing. There was no hiding. _Better tell him the truth, Annabeth._ 'Yeah.' I answered, my voice usually hollow, now thick with emotion. Percy wrapped his arms around me. I froze.

'Annabeth, what's wrong?' I heard Percy whisper, into my ear. That shook my out of my daze and I tried to pull myself out of Percy's embrace. This only made him hug me harder. 'Annabeth, just accept it for once. Please.' Percy said. I looked around the hallway, probably once filled with people, now empty. I looked at Percy. He nodded. Clearly, he wasn't going to let go until I hugged him back. I gave in and cautiously slipped my thin arms around his strong, bulky frame. It was like a dam broke, and a tone of emotions just came rushing out of me. I suddenly found myself unable to control myself as I wept into Percy's shirt. I clutched to him like he was a lifeline and wept, letting go of my agony for the first time with another person present since mom died. _Get a grip of yourself Annabeth. Do not show weakness,_ my inner voice shouted. But I had lost control of my physical body. I continued to weep.

Around thirty minutes later, I found myself in a nearby bathroom, alone, trying to dry my puffy eyes. I didn't miss any classes, as it was lunchtime. Percy had stayed right by my side through my entire breakdown, whispering comforting things in my left ear whenever another round of sobs overcame my ability to speak. After having a heart-to-heart talk with Percy, I guess you could call him my friend now, maybe even best friend after that breakdown. Thinking about it, my heart skipped a beat. _I finally had a friend! Someone who would willingly put up with me and listen and try to understand me!_ I had wanted to shout it out loud, before finally gaining control of myself. For the first time, there was hope. Hope that somebody would actually care for me. I had finally told him to go have lunch with his other friends. He finally left ten minutes later, seeing as I was too stubborn to take no for an answer. Hopefully, he would be able to find his way to the cafeteria after I had given him directions to follow. I tried not to think about the incident, as I knew it would just bring around another set of sobs. I composed myself, looked myself in the mirror one last time, straightened my clothing and made myself look presentable. The puffy eyes could not be helped. With that, I opened the door, walked out of the bathroom and walked to the cafeteria.

-Line-breaker-

Percy POV

I had somehow found my way to the cafeteria by myself, without Annabeths help. I sat with a few friends I had made. Brody, the person I had talked to in PE had immediately dragged me over to his table the moment he had saw me standing awkwardly by the entrance of the cafeteria. Within seconds, Brody and his friends had bombarded me with questions about myself. Which school did you go to before coming here? Why did you change schools in the middle of the term? (I did not answer that one) After the questions, I talked with the guys (whos names were Brody, Jack, Harwood and James) and realised I actually fitted in pretty well. We were talking about swimming after the guys found out that I liked swimming as well and were discussing about me joining the swim team when she walked in.

Annabeth had just walked in the cafeteria and I could not stop staring. Despite having red puffy eyes from the earlier breakdown, she was, is still the prettiest girl I had ever laid eyes on. My breath caught as she walked down the cafeteria to the 'outsiders table' as the guys liked to call it. She was the only person there. Harwood noticed my gaping mouth and the fact that I was staring at a certain grey-eyed girl. He chuckled and nudged the other guys, squealing: 'Percy's got a crush!' like a little 5 year old. I slapped his head and walked over to Annabeth, wanting to check on her.

Annabeth saw me coming over and smiled, inviting me to sit next to her by gesturing to me and pointing at the sit. She is now officially my best friend. Somehow, I had managed to break her barriers and convinced her to let me in less than a school day, which was somewhat a miracle. I think it had something to do with the fact that we somehow understood each other despite being so different. She had a rough childhood, like me after all.

'So…' I said, not really knowing what to say after a breakdown. What do you say to a girl who just had a breakdown a few minutes ago? She surprised me by a hug. She bear-hugged me, which caught me off guard. I was blushing because she was so close to me and I could feel butterflies turning my stomach into a mosh pit. 'Thank you.' She said, sincerely, eyes shining with delight. 'Your welcome, your majesty.' I said while doing a mock bow. She laughed. It was the most majestic sound I have even heard. It was like a mixture of birds chirping and dew droplets. The air suddenly seemed to smell of nature. 'I'm sorry you had to witness that.' She said, between bites of the cheese sandwich which I didn't realise she had taken out of her bag. I was startled. _Honestly, why couldn't she simply accept help?_ 'I was glad to help.' I said, sincerely. She looked at me nervously. 'I don't deserve help.' She murmured. She froze, looked at me cautiously and carefully said: 'You didn't hear any of that.' I grinned, having the satisfaction of at least knowing that she still is willing to open up to me. However, I immediately sobered after processing exactly what did she say. _I don't deserve help._ 'Why?' I asked watching her carefully, knowing that that one word could cause a breakdown. She thankfully didn't breakdown, but she did become more guarded. 'That's a story for another time' she said, watching me. I sighed, knowing that I couldn't have made all that much process in half a day. 'Come on, lessons are about to start' she said, out of the blue, successfully changing the subject. I went back to the guys to get my backpack and hurried back to her side. In the short time which I have gone, she somehow managed to finish packing her bag. 'What my next lesson?' I asked casually. She said: 'Geography.' Together, we walked out of the cafeteria.

A/N:

Thanks for the reviews! To those who didn't review, please feel free to review or PM me on your thoughts and advice for the next lesson/chapter. Hope this chapter's long enough! ;)


	11. Geography

Annabeth's POV

Mr Alexander looked up as Percy and I entered the classroom. I know what you're thinking, a teacher known as Alexander?! Isn't Alexander a first name anyways? I suppose it is. But for some strange reason, he liked the name. In fact, when someone (I think the 'someone' was Mark Scurvey) asked him why didn't he change his name or something, he replied with: 'I like the name Alexander. It reminds me of Alexander the Great.' Anyway, back to the topic.

'You must be Mr. Jackson.' He said, taking his oddly-shaped glasses off to get a good look at Percy. He held out an arm for a handshake. 'Perseus, am I correct?' Percy warily took his outstretched hand and shook it firmly. 'It's Percy actually.' Percy replied. Out of all the teachers, I like Mr. Alexander the best. He may have a peculiar name, but he was kind and understanding, always jumping to help students when they struggled with geography. He is rather wise, always managing to see at least two steps ahead in pretty much anything. A good example would be chess. He taught the class well, making sure to not be boring and always gave us tips on revising. He is just and fair, yet strict and unyielding to anybody's complaints. In other words, he was very much like a copy of Albus Dumbledore in the _Harry Potter series._

'Is Miss Chase your guide, Mr. Jackson?' Mr. Alexander asked. Percy nodded. 'Is she doing a good job?' Mr Alexander asked yet again, looking Percy in the eye. Percy took his time to answer. 'Yes' he finally spluttered out, while blushing as if he didn't really know what to say. Mr Alexander took one long, good look at him and smiled suggestively. I frowned. _What was going on between the two?_ Percy looked at me out of the corner of his eye, blushing beet-red. I narrowed my eyes at him. I hated not knowing what was going on. Meanwhile, Mr. Alexander had resumed his neutral expression. 'Mr. Jackson, would you sit next to Miss. Chase?' It was more of a order, rather than a question and Percy took the hint and sat in the seat Mr. Alexander pointed at, groaning slightly.

I walked over and took my own seat, right in front of Mr. Alexander's desk. I took a quick look around me. While I was trying to figure things out, the rest of the class had arrived and took their seats. Cathy, the brat glared at me and I glared back. We had a slight staring contest and Percy broke it, by touching me on the shoulder. I jerked away, glaring, while he looked away. The whole time, I could feel Cathy stare linger at the back of my head. _But what for?_ Cathy had never even acknowledged me before and now she was what…jealous. Now that I thought of it, she was. I could tell by the look in my eye. _But of what?_

Mr. Alexander brought his hands together and clapped them twice, bringing the class to attention. 'Okay class, today we are going to start a new unit.' I leaned forward eagerly. I loved to learn. Mr. Alexander continued, unaware that the class was smirking and slightly laughing behind his back. 'We're going to study about the Olympics and you're going to study the Olympics by self-learning. It's going to be a project, really. You and your partner would have to re-make the Olympics with a country of your own choice and I want a full presentation about why did you chose the place, where would you host the Olympics in the chosen country and so on. There will be a prize for who I think did the best presentation. Everything you would need to do would be in the blue folders in front of me here. ' he said, tapping a stack of light blue folders on his desk. 'There would be no choosing partners, as I have already chosen them for you' he said. 'Any questions?' he asks, oblivious to the groans going around the class. Mark, the only person other than myself to ask questions in Mr. Alexander's class raised his hand. Mr. Alexander calls on him. Mark asks: 'What's the prize?' Mr. Alexander smiled secretively and replies: 'That will be for you to find out, Mark.'

I, myself, also suppressed a groan. I was hoping to work Candy. She was a good partner to have, because she was nice, hard-working and smart. I sneaked a look at Percy. Clearly, he was pleased to let Mr. Alexander choose his partner for him. Probably because a) he was new and b) he didn't really have that many friends to work with. _Fair enough._ Now, I can only hope that Mr. Alexander choose someone reliable. I crossed my fingers, forming an X. That is my sign for good luck.

Mr. Alexander started reading out the names of the people he picked out.

'Danny, you'll be working with Cathy.'

'Brody, you'll be working with Genna.'

'Mark, you'll be working with Candy.'

'Percy, you'll be working with Annabeth….'

Mr. Alexander went on and on, but I had already tuned him out, the moment I heard who was my partner. I liked Percy as a friend, but for a school project…let's just say he wouldn't be my first pick. I thought back to how he somehow managed to fall asleep in math class, earlier this morning. I signed.

Mr. Alexander then concluded his long speech of partners with: 'Get a folder up here and start working on the project.' He then sat down in his chair and started marking Gods-knows-what. I turned to Percy and said: 'Come on, lets get a folder.'

After getting the folder, I sat down and read over the basic list of requirements. I always like to do an extension on projects, in order to gain a better mark and the teacher's approval. I always felt like I was under pressure from teachers and also peers. I would never live up to their standard. I…

I caught myself just before I managed to fall into the hole threatening to consume me. _The hole of self-depression._ I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and resuming reading the list. I frowned. There was far too many things to do, even with the very minimum, we had to take extra time on the project, rather than finishing it all in school. I took a deep breath and said: 'Ok Percy, we have a lot of things to do. What do you think we should tackle first?' Percy snatched the list out of my left hand and tried to read it, without success.

I signed, this time from out of frustration. 'Seaweed Brain, it says that we have to first, figure out which place do we want to host the Olympics. Then we have to explain why we choose the place and after that we have to explain more about the accessibility of the place and research a little about near by hotels and…' I stopped, mid sentence seeing that Percy's eyes have glazed over during my little speech. I frowned and snapped sharply at him: 'Are you listening?' I raised an eyebrow while he stammered out: 'N—no' 'You were the person the ask the question in the first place.' I said, simply stating a fact and slightly angry. 'Y-yes ma'am.' He stammered. On the inside, I chuckled. It was funny seeing his eyes pop out and mouth parted. _He looks cute_ some inner voice said. _What?!_ I shake my head to get rid of my thoughts while Percy stared at me like I was the idiot here. I blushed.

'Come on, lets get to work' I said, to get rid of my earlier embarrassment. I took out my laptop and a notepad. Percy and I planned what we were going to do for the project, while I wrote it down. Well, technically it was I who was doing the planning while Percy gave me ah some really 'helpful' suggestions like the London Olympics were last year. Or, swimming would be so much better than doing the project.

Once I was done with the planning, I looked it over, reading it out loud with some difficulty. We were going to make a power point and a poster for our Olympic mascot, logo and torch. For extra credit, we were going to research more about the history of the country we had chosen. Speaking of which, I just realized that we haven't even chosen the country yet. After a few 'discussions' with Percy, we had decided on Istanbul, because it was unique for bringing Europe and Asia together in many ways other countries couldn't. The weather was pretty good and its economy wasn't that bad. I checked my grey watch, there was only ten minutes till class was over. I said: 'Wait here' and headed over to Mr. Alexander.

'Mr. Alexander.' I said. The teacher looked up at his name. 'Will there be anymore class time spent on the project?' I asked. Mr. Alexander stroked his chin and said: 'There wouldn't be any more class time spent on the project because we are rather behind. So I am afraid that you and Mr. Jackson would have to finish it in your homework time. The due date is in the blur folder.' Mr. Alexander said firmly. I nodded, dejected 'Thank you Mr. Alexander' I said before walking back to my seat.

The moment I sat down, Percy interrogated me. 'What did you ask?' he asked, curious. I shrugged, ignored him and said: 'There wouldn't be any more class time given for the project. So we need to find a way to meet up.' I finished, frowning. I couldn't invite Percy over because my dad and Helen would never let me even take a friend over, even if it was for a project. They were worried for the boys. 'Maybe we could meet at a coffee shop or something.' I finally said, after a long period of silence. 'No' Percy said with a surprising amount of intensity. The sheer amount of intensity jolted me from my thoughts and made me look at him, a question in my eye. 'We could go to my place.' Percy said, dead serious. There was an awkward pause between us. I found it hard to accept and hard to believe. I never got invited to go to people's homes, not even for studying. We usually met up at a coffee shop if something like that happened. 'Alright' I finally answered, a small smile crossing my lips. Maybe Percy actually cared for me. For once, I felt an emotion I haven't felt ever since my mother died. Hope. I felt my heart lift. Maybe I finally might have a family after all. Of course, Percy just had to ruin the moment.

Percy asked: 'What's your phone number?' I hesitated. Dad and Helen were both very strict about my phone. It was only used to call them, they said. And that even had to be an emergency situation. 'What's wrong, you're frowning.' Percy said, startling me out of my thoughts. I forced a smile. Even dad and Helen wouldn't mind…right? It was for a project. I can explain it to them. I looked up, met Percy's sea green eyes and said: 'Yeah. It's 2332 4567. (Random phone number)' Percy smiled and said: ' Yours is kind of easy to remember. Mine's 6734 8532. ' I quickly took my phone out to record his number in contacts. 'Why do you only have three numbers so far?' Percy asked, startling me. He must have looked at my phone without me realizing. I glared at him and decided to tell him the truth. He'll find out eventually. 'My dad and step-mom are really strict with me giving me my phone number out to anybody. Besides, you're the only friend I've ever had in a long time.' I said, sighed wistfully. 'Really? You're not bad.' Percy said. 'Thanks' I replied then changed the subject. 'Do you know my number?' I asked. Percy quickly took his phone out and saved my number. 'Yeah, I do.' 'Do you want to…do you want to go to my place to work on the project?' Percy asked, shyly. I smiled. _He looks cute when he's shy._ This time, I didn't even bother correcting myself. 'Sure.' The bell rang.

A/N:

Thanks for all the reviews again. I will take your suggestion into consideration. Please review. ;)


	12. Cross-country

Annabeth's POV

'Come on Percy, we have our LIAs next. You've signed up for cross-country haven't you? That's the same with me.' I said, trying to pull a Percy out of the classroom. A word about LIA. It stands for 'Leadership in action' and it's kind of like an elective except that you are given a list of choices to choose from and that it is required. You will not be graded on electives.

The moment Percy heard the word 'cross-country' he bolted out of his seat, towards the door. I laughed. 'Percy, calm down. You're going to need your strength.' I said, between laughs. Once I had calmed down, I realized something. Percy wasn't all that keen on cross-country. He didn't want to run to classes in the morning. 'Percy, why did you sign up for cross-country if you didn't like it?' I asked, curious. He blushed, looking very much like a deer caught in the headlights. I was confused. _There's nothing to be embarrassed about._ 'It was the best choice and almost my mother wanted me to do cross-country because I apparently wasn't fit enough. So she persuaded me to give it a shot.' He said the bit about his mom really quickly, like it embarrassed him, but to me, it was a sign that he was so, so lucky. My dad never cared about me and don't even mention Helen. She's a nightmare. I sighed. 'Anything else?' I asked desperately, trying to distract myself from falling into another 'attack'. I started packing my bag. It worked. 'Nope.' Percy answered, popping the 'p'. 'Come on, lets go.' I said, smiling a genuine smile at him. The realization sent a jolt threw me. _When was the last time I ever smiled at somebody genuinely?_ I started walking towards the pitch, almost robotically while I tried to look through my memories. I had no memories of smiling genuinely at somebody…for a long time. Not since my mom died. I sighed, going back to the present and out of my wallow of depressing thoughts. For once, I didn't get an 'attack' for thinking about mom. A spark of hope ignited in me. _Maybe…I could finally be healed._

-Line-breaker-

We had finally reached 'the astro' but I always called it the pitch. To our left, there were the changing rooms. We didn't need to change because we had changed beforehand, for PE. I spotted Coach Hedge in the middle and jogged over to him, Percy right behind me. I guess he wanted to appear keen. Once I was standing next to Coach, I said: 'Good afternoon sir' and went on to introduce Percy. 'Coach, this is Percy Jackson, he's doing cross-country this term.' Coach Hedge raised an eyebrow and gave him a quick scan. Coach finally replied, saying: 'Alrighty cupcakes, go dump your bags over there and we'll be doing laps out here today for the whole lesson since Jackson's new. Get running!' I jogged over to the indicated spot and motioned Percy to do the same.

Percy, also jogging dumped his bag next to mine and sat down, as if he was tired. As for me, I was stretching. 'Are you serious! That's what we're going to do the whole lesson?!' he ranted. I raised an eyebrow, before replying with: 'That's kind of what you signed up for Jackson. Besides, this is one of the easy lessons. We usually run out of school and in the mountains.' I replied, continuing my stretches. Percy asked: 'Why do you bother doing them? Stretches?' I looked at him and said: 'Well that for you to fine out. I'll tell you after the lesson if you're still curious.'

Coach Hedge blew the sliver whistle that was always around his neck. 'Alrighty cupcakes, fall in!' Everyone else who signed up for cross-country sprinted towards Coach Hedge and gathered around him in a circle. Only Percy was walking at a leisure pace towards him. 'Too slow. You guys are suppose to be faster. Twenty pushups and move it!' There were plenty of groans and some shot Percy a look of pure hatred. I was the only one not groaning because I knew that it would all eventually pay off some day. I dropped to the floor and did pushups while counting out loud with the rest of the team. '1…2…3…' We worked as a team and practically yelled. We knew better than to not count.

Percy was the only one not counting, as he had no idea what was going on. The patrolling Coach Hedge waited until everyone was done with the pushups. The, he turned to Percy. 'Do you know how to count, Jackson?' he asked. Percy's face turned tomato red. 'Jackson, as far as I'm concerned, you did zero because you were not counting.' Coach said, raising an eyebrow. Percy got the hidden message and dropped to the floor doing twenty more pushups while counting out loud. Some snickered and one of my classmates, Bobby even dared to laugh. Coach immediately rounded on him and yelled: 'Bobby, for disrespecting a member of the class, do twenty more pushups!' Bobby's face red, did another twenty pushups, taking extra care to count. Percy finished his, and he was already sweating. _Go figure._ He stared pleadingly at me, begging Coach to stop his torture. Unfortunately, I was amused and I tried to tell him with my eyes to shut up before I started laughing. He got the message, gulped and stopped.

'Alright cupcakes, since we have a new team member, we're going to take it easy for today and just run round the pitch for an hour.' Coach Hedge yelled into his megaphone which was usually clipped at his belt. We stood up, groaning and Coach blew his whistle. 'Move it!' He yelled, and we were off.

I was usually one of the faster ones in the team, but I dropped behind. The strategy I always used was to run very slowly at the beginning and run faster in the end. It was easier to me, because I had trouble finding myself a suitable pace for an hour. I usually ran alone, enjoying the silence and admiring the beauty of the world. Unfortunately, Percy decided to talk to me while running. Despite the fact that Percy is my only friend, I didn't like talking to people while running because that only managed to make me lose my breath quicker.

'Percy, I don't talk when I run because it's harder. To run I mean. So, do you mind?' I said sarcastically. Percy apparently didn't take the hint and continued talking to me anyways. 'So, what's your favorite colour?' Percy asked, between pants. 'Grey' I snapped. 'Can you please stop talking? I'm trying to concentrate here!' I said, practically begging. 'No' Percy replied cheekily and ran a little further before I could smacked him on the back of his head. 'Fine' I said, giving up. 'You can ask me questions, but I'll probably run away or not answer you.' I said, warning him.

Half an hour later, I had finally lost Percy because he simply couldn't keep up with me and I started to calm down. Coach Hedge was up and running with the students who were slow, yelling at the top of his lungs: 'Pick up the pace, cupcakes. You call that running?!' For effect, Coach Hedge occasionally even used his megaphone. 'Move it Jackson, you call th-' Coach Hedge was cut off mid-sentence by his megaphone. 'The cow goes moo!' Several kids had to stop because they were laughing too hard and were on the verge of getting a stomachache. I had to stiffen a laugh. Coach threw his megaphone down and glared at it. 'Bad megaphone!' he yelled, like it was a two year old toddler that needed punishment. This just caused even more laughs. This time, I couldn't hold back a laugh. I doubled over, falling to the ground in laughter. Percy wasn't doing much better. He cracked up.

Coach Hedge doesn't always use his megaphone, but when he does, it's hilarious. And despite the fact that he used his megaphone before, it never fails to get old.

Within seconds, the whole class was on the floor, laughing their butts off. It may not sound funny, but if you actually see it…well, it's impossible not to laugh. Coach Hedge tried to man-up and puff up his chest. He picked up his megaphone and re-clipped it to his belt. 'What are you laughing at cupcakes! Get back to running. Move it!' he yelled, face flushed. We obediently did. I finally calmed down and started to move. I moved to get up. But before I could somebody said: 'Hey, need a hand?' That somebody was Percy. I looked at his outstretched hand and hesitated. Then, I shrugged it off and grabbed his hand. Electricity coursed through me. I couldn't help but gasp from it while I got up. I brushed the dirt off my hands and gasped out a 'Thanks.' Percy smiled and replied with a: 'No prob' We split up. I headed towards the front of the group and Percy, towards the back. The electricity feeling faded away and left my hand tingling. After a few minutes of running that too, faded away although I kind of wish it stayed. It was nice.

I turned my attention back to running. I loved the feeling of running. Not a lot of people could appreciate running, because they could only focus on their legs burning. And that itself may not be so pleasant, but running held a certain…freedom to it. I felt that I was running away from all my problems and I forgot all of my problems in the time I ran. Usually, when we ran in the hills, I've learnt to admirer the view and appreciate the beauty of the world. The air suddenly felt fresh and it gave me hope. Hope for a new beginning.

Remember the unpleasant burning in your legs? Once you finish running, you feel…good. Not a 'high' good, but a calm good. You feel in control of your life and that's why I liked running cross-country. You may ask, why don't you like sprinting than? First of all, it takes too little time. You're only focus on the white finish line in front of you and you can't appreciate the beauty of the world. I focused on running.

Cross-country ended all too soon. I felt like I could still run another mile. However, Percy was a different case entirely. I was sweating, but Percy was sweating buckets. The moment the lesson finished, Percy jogged to his blue school bag to take his giant water bottle out. He opened it, and drank it in a few gulps. 'Are you alright, Seaweed Brain?' I asked. 'Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy.' Percy replied. 'Are you sure you don't need to go to the nurse?' I asked again, slightly worried for him. Percy took a deep breath. 'Yeah' Percy answered, slightly panting still. 'Can you walk?' I asked, yet again. 'I'm perfectly fine, Wise girl. See?' Percy said, gesturing to himself. For effect, he showed me his arms and legs.

I laughed. 'Alright you idiotic moron, let's get to our other LIA. You have swimming.' I said. At this, Percy lit up. He looked like a five year old who had just been to the candy store. 'What do you have?' Percy asked, while bouncing up and down. I laughed. 'I have Architecture.' I answered. At this, Percy's face dropped. 'Why can't you have swimming with me?' he said while pouting. _He looks like a cute little baby seal._ I had to look away, cheeks aflame. When I finally looked back, Percy was grinning. 'So…you can't resist me, can you? I'm too hot.' He said, flexing his muscles. I laughed, slightly blushing. 'Come on, let me take you to swimming.' I said, dragging him away.

A/N:

Finally done! Please review on this chapter! ;)


	13. Swimming

Percy's POV

Annabeth dragged me down the hallway and into the swimming pool. While being dragged (painfully) I attempted to make conversation. 'Do you swim?' I asked, trying to ignore the electricity between us. Annabeth shrugged. 'I don't exactly hate it, but it's certainly not my favorite sport. My favorite sports are Basketball and cross-country.' I was slightly disappointed that she didn't like swimming that much. I, however was not expecting her to like basketball. Cross-country wasn't that surprising; she ran everywhere, but basketball? 'How did you start playing basketball?' I asked. I was for once, curious. 'Remember when I said that I liked cross-country? Before my…m…mom died, she used to take me on basketball classes, with my neighbor. His name was Luke Castellan. He…was like a big brother to me and he died shortly after my thirteenth birthday.' Annabeth smiled sadly. 'He was diagnosed with lung cancer, because he used to smoke a lot. Honestly, I miss him. He may not be my family by blood, but he was/is my older brother.' Annabeth finished, sniffling slightly and sounding wistful. Me? I was just stunned. She lost so many people that were dear to her, and those she didn't lose turned against her. My life suddenly sounded like a paradise.

'I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have asked.' I said miserably, suddenly interested at the black and white tile at my feet. I move no move to comfort her; I knew that she might not have welcomed me…trying. So it surprised me when we stopped walking and she said: 'I think I needed to tell somebody anyways. It's long overdue.' I hugged her, trying to comfort her and for a second, she hesitated and cautiously hugged me back. I sadly, had to break the hug because I had a class to get to and I knew that Annabeth would be disappointed if she didn't get to hers. I cleared my throat, and said: 'Annabeth, we're going to be late.' She smiled, slightly embarrassed I can tell, from the blush on her cheeks. She checked her watch. 'You're right. Come on Seaweed Brain, lets go.' She walked me down to the swimming pool and bid me farewell. I waved, trying not to look like an idiot. She laughed, then turned a corner, cutting my view of her off.

I turned back to the opened door, giving me a perfect view of the pool. It was magnificent. There were stands on the side and a huge pool with lanes. I saw the Coach standing off to the side of the pool, lecturing a bunch of people already in their swimsuits. I walked up to Coach and said: 'Sorry I'm late, Coach. May I change?' 'Alright kid, because you're new, I'll let you off for once. What's your name?' Coach asked, holding out his hand. I took his offered hand and said respectfully ' Percy Jackson, sir.' We shook hands and Coach replied with: 'Nice to meet you kid, I'm Coach King. Hurry up and change and we'll have a race to see who's fastest.' He smiled and pointed to the boy's bathroom. I hurried to the bathroom and quickly changed into my swimwear. I walked out of the changing and joined the swimmers. Coach said: 'Get into pairs. Swimming season is coming up and I need to pick team members. You will be judged on your time and everyone here needs to complete five laps. A lap is when you go forth and back. There are twenty-four of you and whoever's last standing, will become captain, unless he refuses the role. Go!' Everyone paired up except me, so I went up to Coach to say I didn't have a partner. He pointed to one of the boys in the back of the group who I think was in my math class this morning. He was what most people would call a stereotypical nerd and I think his name was…Jack? Jake? I casually strolled over and he seemed to shrink, wanting the ground to swallow him up. I could clearly see that I would tower over him because I was so tall. When I got there, I held my hand out and introduced myself. 'Hey, my name's Percy Jackson. What's yours?' I said, all in a friendly tone, to put him at ease. He timidly took my hand and said: 'Grover. Grover Underwood.' I smiled at him and he timidly smiled back. I could sense a start to a friendship.

-Time-skip-

Grover turned out to be a pretty good friend. He warmed up to me as soon as we started to chat. We chatted until the race started. He told me who was usually the swimming team captain. Turns out, it was Brody. No wonder he was asking me if I swam. He was a pretty nice guy. 'Good luck.' Jake said. 'You too.' I replied, nodding politely at him. I took my place at the starting line and on Coach's whistle, dived in.

I didn't remember much of the race. All I remembered doing was counting how many laps did I do. The moment I touched the finish line, I got out of the pool. Turns out I was the first one done. The second person to get out was Brody, followed by the rest of the swimming members. Brody shot me a grin and congratulated me on coming first. I shot him a lop side grin to show my thanks. 'You did well as well. Good job!' I told him. Everyone congratulated me on coming first, especially on beating Brody. I blushed a lot. When I passed Grover, I clapped him on the shoulder and wished him luck again. He congratulated me again. I smiled. I was getting on to a great start.

-Time-skip-

It was the end of the lesson. Coach was now announcing who would be team captain and who would be the swim team members. 'Brody, John, Grover…' he continued to read out names, and I tuned out. It was kind of hard to listen to Coach with ADHD after all. 'And this year, out team captain will be, drumroll please' Everybody started doing the drumroll. I leaned forward, tensed, wondering who got the roll of team captain. 'Percy Jackson!' Coach finished. He slapped me on the back. 'Congratulations, Percy. Not bad. Not bad at all.' Everybody let out a huge cheer (except me). I was mostly too stunned to process the fact that I was now team captain of Athena school.

A/N:

Bad news. I'm really sorry, but I'm going on holiday to the states for like 3 weeks. Dad wouldn't allow me to bring my laptop…so I can't update. I'm so sorry guys! ;( This is probably going to be the last update for this story for a while. I'll update as soon as I can, once I get back. Please review and share your thoughts!


	14. After Swimming

**A/N**

 **I'm back! Before you read anything below, I just wanted to say sorry for not updating for like 27 days! So here goes (deep breath): 'I sincerely apologize for not updating for a long time.'**

Annabeth's POV

The bell rang ten minutes ago and Percy still wasn't done. I was planning on asking him about the project; when should we start? What should we do? I paced back and forth, my ADHD making me slightly agitated. When I get agitated, I tend to start over-analyzing things. _Would Percy object?_ I thought before mentally clamping down on my emotional side, allowing the sense of logic to wash over my brain, instantly calming me down. _Ok Annabeth, think logically._ _Steps. Step 1: Go over the list again and priorities. Step 2: Organize both what Percy and I should do. Step 3:…_ I continued going over the 'step-list' as I like to call it, when somebody next to me coughed rather loudly. I jumped three feet in the air, turning to face the mysterious person, ready to tell whomever it was off before realizing it was Percy. I calmed down instantly.

'Why are you here?' the said person asked. I cleared my throat uncomfortably 'Waiting for you.' I muttered, so quietly that he almost didn't catch my words. 'Am I really that sexy?' he asked, waggling his eyebrows, showing off his muscles. I blushed, before snapping back to myself. I mentally wacked myself in my head. _Stop it!_ I scolded myself. 'I came here to ask when should we do the project?' I stated, making the sentence sound like a question. Percy stared. 'Are you free? I mean, do you have anything to do today? I mean…urg, never mind.' He said, face red with frustration. I blushed. _He looks cute…_ my mind whispered. I blinked. _Where did that come from? Stop it Annabeth! Bad girl!_ _Bad thoughts!_ I prayed that I sounded somewhat detached, not like the inner five year old. When I spoke, I surprised myself by sounding tired 'I'm free today. I'm not free tomorrow thought. I have to take care of my brothers.' 'You have siblings?!' Percy stated, surprised. I smiled tiredly saying: 'Half-siblings. Twins. They're both ten, and one's called Bobby and the other, Matthew. I love them to death. Helen wasn't a good mom, so I became their 'mom'. I read them stories and played with them when they were kids.'

We stood in silence for a while before Percy broke it, saying: 'So…if you're free today…do you wanna come over? For the project?' He sounded hopeful, and I gave him a small smile, but inside, I was panicking. _Crap, I didn't tell Helen or dad about the project!_ But at the same time, I couldn't lose face in front of Percy. Again. I sighed, digging my phone out of my bag and calling Helen. I knew she would be 'baby-sitting', (if you called sitting in front of the TV and letting kids to do whatever they want baby sitting). Helen picked up. 'What do you want Annabeth?' she answered, sounding irritated. I took a deep breath. 'Helen, is it alright if I go to friend's home to work on a project? It's group work.' I asked and held my breath, waiting for Helen to explode. She didn't disappoint. 'Pardon young lady? We forbade you to go to another's home. You don't have time for this stuff!' she yelled. I flinched. 'Helen; I need to go for a project. Please.' I begged. She huffed. 'Fine, but you're doing all the house work for the next month for not telling me beforehand!' Helen shouted. 'Helen, please. Mr. Alexander, the geography teacher only gave us the project today. My partner also wants me to do the project today.' I said, firmly. Already my stubborn side was coming out. 'I don't care, young lady. You. Are. Not. Suppose. To. Do. Anything. Outside. School. With. Friends! You're still doing all the housework for a month.' She yelled. I frowned 'But Helen…' I began, my temper almost snapping. 'Say one more word and you're baby sitting your brothers for the next week!' I snapped my mouth shut. With gritted teeth, I bid Helen a farewell, then hung up. I was fuming. _How dare she! I just wanted to do a project!_

Percy cautiously stretched his hand out and left it on my shoulder. 'I'm sorry.' He said. I was shocked. _Why was he apologizing?_ 'You have nothing to apologize for, Percy. It wasn't your fault.' I said. 'If it was anyone's, it was Helen's. All I asked for was to work with somebody. On a project.' I said, my voice growing in anger. 'She really over-reacted! It's not like I asked to go to a party to get drunk and have sex or something! It's not li-' I wanted to say 'It's not like we're going to do anything!' But I was suddenly cut off by a pair of lips on mine. To be specific, Percy's.

 **A/N**

 **Percy finally kissed Annabeth! Squeal! Anyway, back to the topic. The next chappie shows us Annabeth's reaction. Stay tuned my fellow percabeth fans! *** **waves madly** *****


	15. Home

Annabeth's POV

I froze. _I mean, who wouldn't? This was my first kiss. Not to mention that I had a really small crush on him. My first crush._ All that was going through my head when I finally came to my senses, exactly a second later. I was still slightly shocked. The rational side of me argued that I really should pull myself away from him because he clearly deserved better. It would be selfish of me to keep him to myself when I could give him nothing in return. But somehow, none of that mattered. I kissed him back, a little tentatively. After all, I had no idea what to do. Butterflies suddenly appeared in my stomach. Percy reached up and ran his fingers through my hair and succeeded in pulling me a little closer. I grew a little braver and reached out to grab his neck, forcing us to kiss even more passionately and fiercely.

All too soon, I pulled away, refusing to look Percy in the eye. I was breathing hard and so was Percy. I could feel Percy's compassionate eyes looking at me, waiting for me to…I don't know, say something? I really liked the kiss and more than anything, I really wanted somebody…anybody to care for me. That was my deepest wish. But at the same time, I felt guilty that I felt that way. If I became Percy's girlfriend; many people's hearts would be broken. Especially Percy, because I would probably be forced to break it off. I would rather somebody else be happy because I clearly didn't deserve happiness. Not to mention that it was selfish of me to keep Percy. It was decided. I finally found the courage to meet his eyes. I blushed, looked away and said quietly: 'Percy…I like you. I really do. But,…I'm just not ready for a relationship and you really should find someone else to be your girlfriend. Because I'm really not worth it. I would rather someone else to be happy than I am. It's selfish of me to keep you. ' I averted my eyes, waiting for him to reject me. It really hurt; but I knew that it was the right decision. _Is this what heartbreak feels like?_ I felt that my heart was torn in two. Percy had every right to say yes to my proposal.

Percy's POV

The moment I kissed her, sparks exploded. My feelings were like a tidal wave and I was helplessly trapped, only capable of following passion and lust. It really surprised me, but I really liked Annabeth. I've had my fair share of girlfriends in the past but none of them made my heart beat like she did. I love her. Even only after knowing her for a day, I've never felt like this before. When Annabeth finally kissed me back, my eyes widened. I didn't dare hope that she liked me as well. I mean, what did she really see in me? I wasn't smart like her, I wasn't strong like her, nor was I athletic like her. I was just a normal person, one who had became her friend on the first day. I was a klutz next to her; she was so graceful. Not to mention, she didn't see it but she is a very strong person.

Annabeth pulled away, refusing to look me in the eye. I stared at her like an idiot; I couldn't help it. She is beautiful after all. Then when she said those words, I almost jumped for joy; she liked me! I wanted to embrace my inner five year old and just jump up and down, like I was on a trampoline. But I forced myself to remain still and listen to what she had to say. When she basically told me to 'find someone else to be your girlfriend. Because I'm really not worth it.' I didn't really know what to feel or say. She certainly had an odd way of looking at herself. Was she really that lacking in the self-confidence department. But when I heard her say that she was selfish, I was shocked. She most definitely wasn't selfish; not if she willingly gave up the chance to be happy. I stood there, shocked before wrapping my arms around her in a bear hug. She stiffened for a moment, before allowing herself to relax into the bear hug. 'Annabeth Chase, I love you. I've had a huge crush on you the moment you came running in the corridor earlier in the morning. I wouldn't want anybody else to be my girlfriend. But if you aren't ready for a relationship, I can understand. I'll wait. But for now, can we be friends at least?' I said. She started shaking, before bursting into tears for the second time today. I held her as she buried her head into my shoulder and cried.

When she finally stopped her crying fit, she said: 'You actually care about me?' She sounded like a five year old. A really, really hot five year old. By the hopeful look she had on her face, it was clear that it didn't happen often. I smiled and answered her question: 'Of course I do.' She stood up and grabbed her bag as I grabbed mine. 'Annabeth?' I asked as we headed towards the doors. 'You can stay with my mom and I if you like. As a friend. Clearly, you don't really like living with Helen.' I offered. By the suddenly hopefully look on her face, it was clearly more than she dared to hope for. 'Yes! Thank you Seaweed Brain!' she said while flinging her arms around me. But then, she stopped. 'Wouldn't your parents mind?' 'No. And I don't have a father; he died a while ago.' I replied, hanging my head. 'I'm sorry.' She said. 'No it's alright. Are you moving in tomorrow?' 'I'll move in tomorrow.' She said, smiling like a cheshire cat.

Annabeth's POV

I couldn't believe it! Percy actually asked me to move in with him. I really dislike Helen. Father, not so much but still, he doesn't care for me. The twins seem to have forgotten that I live in the same household as they do. I don't exist. The only time when one of my 'family members' would even acknowledge me is when they would want something done. 'Annabeth, can you clean the kitchen? Annabeth, can you tidy the rooms?...' I felt like Cinderella. I was once scrubbing toilets. And I had just met my Prince Charming this morning, in the form of Percy Jackson.

Anyway, sorry I got off track. I was excited in the prospect of meeting Percy's mother. Percy and I chatted all the way to the bus stop which would led to Percy's home. We boarded the bus and still chatting, talked about school all throughout the bus ride. I was finally happy for the first time in my life. After years of being miserable, I had finally found a friend. For the first time since my mother died, I have been given what seems like a second chance. A new home and a new life. For now, I could just tell Helen that I was going to a friend's home to live and hopefully, one day I will no longer have anything to do with her.

The bus stopped and we got off. Percy walked up to a rather odd looking house; it was rather out of place, compared to the other houses. While the other houses on this street had garages and a well-kept lawn, Percy's had a huge garden with all sort of different plants. I could see apple trees, strawberry plants and many others. Percy strolled up to the maroon house (after making sure I was following him) and promptly knocked on the door with the knocker. A woman's voice shouted: 'Coming!' and opened the door.

A 40 year or so woman appeared in the doorway. She had long curly light brown hair and the kindest pair of brown eyes I had ever seen. She was wearing blue and a rather dirty apron. From the sweet smell slowly creeping out of the house and the flour covering the apron, it didn't take a genius to deduce that she was cooking.

Percy flung his arms out to hug this mysterious lady, calling her 'mom!' After the greeting between mother and son, she had turned to me and asked her son 'who's this?' while raising an eyebrow. Percy blushed and introduced us. 'Mom, Annabeth' 'Annabeth, mom' She swept me into a bone crushing hug and released me. 'You may call me Sally.' She said. 'Thank you Sally. Your home certainly looks wonderful.' I said while peering into the house. It was only then did she notice that we were still on the doorstep. 'Come in!' she said, mostly to me.


End file.
